Big River Aviation, St. Louis Flight Training and Jet Aviation Hold Spring Open House at St. Louis Downtown Airport

By Carmelo Turdo

Last weekend Big River Aviation, St. Louis Flight Training and Jet Aviation held an open house at their new location in the West Terminal at St. Louis Downtown Airport. Visitors were treated to good food, fellowship and hospitality as they enjoyed one of the best weather days of the year at the airport. All three host companies operate out the West Terminal and work well together to support the needs of the St. Louis aviation community. The aircraft they maintain and the pilots they train make their way across the nation and around the world. Seen below are Paul Voorhees, Owner of Big River Aviation, Ron Schneider, Director of FBO Services at Jet Aviation, and Ken Kopp, Owner of St. Louis Flight Training visiting with guests. The flight school's aircraft were also open for guided tours on the apron. A sample of the aircraft receiving attention in the hangar show the variety of projects underway at any given time. Contact the host businesses for your aviation service needs by clicking on the links above.    

Soar Into STEM Session Three: Flight Planning, Redbird Flight Simulator and Drones

By Carmelo Turdo

The third session of Soar Into STEM was held at Spirit of St. Louis Airport, and The Aero Experience was again on site to observe the morning session (the second week's activities were covered in our previous story). This week, the students met in the hangar across from Elite Aviation where flight simulator training services are provided. Returning as the leader for the day's session was Brooke Bennett, Education and Outreach Manager for Wings of Hope. The day's schedule included interaction with a number of guest facilitators leading practical, skill-building activities. The students seemed to enjoy working with a new group of aviation professionals along with their now familiar program mentors. 

Following the opening announcements, two guest activity leaders gave brief presentations about their aviation careers and experiences. First to speak was Phil Koch, a private pilot who volunteers to fly medical missions for Wings of Hope. Koch, a retired software industry consultant, has been flying nearly weekly for the Wings of Hope Medical Relief and Air Transport (MAT) Program. MAT was established in 2003 to provide access to life-saving health care within the Midwest to those who are unable to obtain or sustain transportation to specialty care facilities. This is accomplished using corporately-owned aircraft and volunteer pilots and medical staff. About 500 flights are provided annually in Wings of Hope aircraft or through the provision of commercial aircraft flights when practical. 

The next guest speaker was Natalie Kelley, a pilot and founder of flyGirl. Kelley founded flyGirl to inspire young women to enter and succeed in the aviation industry. According to current FAA statistics, only 7% of all pilots are women (4% of commercial airline pilots), and only 29% of all major aviation jobs are held by women. Natalie Kelley and the flyGirl organization provide pilot training scholarships, networking opportunities, public appearances at programs like Soar Into STEM and a mentoring community to help women achieve their aviation dreams. Funding for these programs is provided through donations and sales of flyGirl products through the Sporty's online store. 

Following these short presentations, the students rotated through group activities led by aviation professionals and assisted by their program mentors. One group went on a tour of the tower with Wings of Hope Director of Programs, Dr. Jessica Watson (not pictured). Another group learned new vocabulary words through discussion and word puzzles with mentors Kim Rumpsa and Satya Sunkavalli.

Another group worked with Wendy Erikson of Women and Drones. Erikson is host of the Women and Drones podcast and is an FAA Certified Remote Pilot. She may be better known in St. Louis as a former news anchor and journalist at KSDK news, but she is now an advocate for encouraging women to become drone pilots. She reviewed the uses of drones, from journalism to entertainment to search and rescue. Of course there was an opportunity for the students to fly one as well!

Another group worked with Phil Koch and Natalie Kelley at the flight planning station. They discussed essential concepts such as weight and balance, fuel consumption, routing and related items as they filled in the flight plan documents for a theoretical, but realistic, Wings of Hope flight.

Yet another group was getting flight time in the state-of-the-art Redbird MCX full-motion simulator. The students received expert coaching from John Keich of Alpha Flight Simulation as they experienced flight without leaving the ground (actually they were a little off the ground as the simulator pitched and rolled). Pilots can reserve flight instruction time on the Redbird simulator through Elite Aviation. It is valuable for logging time during foul weather days and for working through trouble spots with an instructor who can freeze the simulator at any time to review progress. 

The students had a chance to participate in each group activity mentioned above in preparation for next week's orientation flight day at Elite Aviation. We will report again next Saturday for the fourth and final week of this edition of Soar Into STEM. The Aero Experience thanks all who have worked to make this such a great STEM aviation program.

Big River Aviation, St. Louis Flight Training and Jet Aviation Will Host Open House This Saturday

By Carmelo Turdo

The weather has finally turned the corner into spring, and that means it's time for Midwest fly-ns! We recommend the open house and barbecue coming up this Saturday at the St. Louis Downtown Airport West Terminal hosted by Big River Aviation, St. Louis Flight Training and Jet Aviation. Fly in and show off your plane or drive in around 11:00 A.M. and join us for food and fellowship. While you are there, come into the terminal and learn more about the services provided by Big River Aviation and St. Louis Flight Training.

"Big River Aviation provides annual and 100-hour inspections, scheduled and un-scheduled maintenance, repairs, and service to avionics, structures and engines," Owner Paul Voorhees told The Aero Experience. "I am very fortunate that my maintenance staff each has over thirty years experience." Voorhees says he is able to serve more customers simultaneously in this facility and with the additional staff he has added recently. Big River Aviation also currently maintains the St. Louis Flight Training fleet along with the company's own Cessna 172.

   

St. Louis Flight Training also operates out the West Terminal. Student pilots and their instructors have access to flight planning data and meeting rooms in the main lobby along with a classroom and lounge area. The diverse training fleet is readily available on the apron and are serviced by Big River Aviation in the main hangar.   

On display will be the Icon A5 amphibian. The all-composite Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) was designed with advanced aerodynamic and safety features, including sculpted hull and seawing platforms, folding wings, custom transport trailer, ballistic rescue parachute and car-like cockpit arrangement. The ICON A5 is powered by a Rotax 912iS Sport engine, and features a Garmin GPS flat screen, removable for pre-flight planning. ICON offers east and west coast flight centers for initial LSA pilot training or transition training to the A5 model. The ICON A5 price tag is not for the feint of heart (and that's where financing options are essential), but the advanced features of the design and product support are part of the calculation when considering this high-end LSA amphibian. 

So fly in or drive in to the open house Saturday and visit with our friends at Big River Aviation and St. Louis Flight Training. We would like to thank representatives from Regions Bank for being available during the event to discuss aircraft financing options, and we appreciate the support from the Jet Aviation FBO that services the West Terminal.

Students Experience Aviation at Two St. Louis Area STEM Programs

By Carmelo Turdo

St. Louis area students participated in two local STEM programs on Saturday. The programs, Soar Into STEM held at Wings of Hope and the St. Louis Science Center's Youth Exploring Science (YES), introduce teens to aviation by providing activities facilitated by experts in the field. The Aero Experience is pleased to support these programs through our promotion and coverage of their activities here and through The Aero Experience YouTube Channel. We spent half of the day with each program, and include some of the highlights below.

Soar Into STEM, Wings of Hope at Spirit of St. Louis Airport

The second week of Soar Into STEM was held at Wings of Hope, and The Aero Experience was on site to observe the morning session (the first week's activities and background of the program are covered in our previous story). The leader for the day's session was Cynthia Chapple, a chemist who works in the electronics industry. She conducted the academic sessions introducing new vocabulary, reviewing journal assignment topics and coordinating the scavenger hunt exercise with the assistance of volunteer aviation mentors. Students pictured below are participating in a vocabulary learning game and looking for clues during their hunt among the aircraft inside of the Wings of Hope hangar and outside on the parking apron.

The guest speaker for the second week of Soar Into STEM was Abby Sevier, an Aerospace Engineer at Boeing Research and Technology. She received her Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and has conducted research for NASA's Glenn Research Center. Sevier gave first-hand examples of aerospace engineering projects from her experience with NASA and Boeing to illustrate the team-based process of developing aerospace vehicles. She also provided a live demonstration of vertical lift aerodynamics using a small UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), better known as a consumer-level drone, and used a 3-D printed wing section to illustrate the design of aircraft structures using non-metal materials (composites).   

Youth Exploring Science, St. Louis Science Center's Taylor Community Science Resource Center

Another STEM program in progress this spring is Youth Exploring Science (YES) from the St. Louis Science Center. Over 250 teens have been nominated to participate in the program, which provides a course of instruction in a variety of STEM fields, including agribusiness, medicine, cyber security and aerospace along with life skills mentoring from industry professionals. The aerospace track students are currently working through an online King Schools pilot ground school training syllabus while receiving live coaching by local CFIs (Certified Flight Instructors). Over the last two Saturdays, the students have supplemented their theoretical knowledge with flying experience gained in a Redbird SD flight simulator. Plans are being made for flights in general aviation aircraft at some time this summer.

The Aero Experience assisted in proctoring a class of YES students during their ground school self-study activities while CFI David Brickhouse gave brief lectures on the three axes of flight, aircraft control surfaces, angle of attack, coordinated turns, stalls, spins and related topics. The students were then able to put the theory into practice in the Redbird flight simulator. 

The Aero Experience thanks all those involved in making the Soar Into STEM and Youth Exploring Science programs available to St. Louis area teens. We will have coverage of future sessions as they are scheduled.